Dear market friends,

If you bought Colette's (grown at Plan B) and Angelos' seeds or bedding plants in the spring you won't be fretting if your fridge gets empty as the market time draws near. At dinnertime, instead of opening the fridge, you go in the garden and pick a handful of beans, a basket of little yellow tomatoes, some basil, dig a few potatoes, break off some swiss chard. If you happen to have rendered some duck fat from one of Ute's (Stonehenge Farms) ducks, you can saute the chard while you cook the beans and potatoes and maybe fry up a Beretta sausage. Or you can use Angelos' olive oil if you're vegetarian. This is the time of simple meals that come from the angels.

Last week there was another farm visit, this time to Jessie and Ben Sosnicki's, about 2 hours west of here, near the town of Simcoe. Jessie invited the park/ market staff to a barbecue, and she and Ben also set up a tour of their neighbours' organic dairy farm. The neighbours are Karl and Anita Schibli. They're Swiss, also from a long farming background (Jesse and Ben are fourth and fifth generation farmers), and a strong source of inspiration and sound organic advice for Ben and Jessie. Next week there will be photos from all the farms we visited recently, on the market web site.

Karl showed us his herd of forty Swiss cows with hides that looked like gray velvet, and his huge bales of hay stacked up so high they were like a hay cathedral. He also grows rye and spelt and soft wheat, and we're scheming how we might get his grain cleaned before it's pooled with all the other grains (from all over Canada, that go to the Tavistock mill) -- so that our park bread could have truly local grain in it.

Ben took us all through the fields, riding on the back of his tractor wagon. We got to hop off and pick what we fancied -- hot peppers, broccoli, cucumbers, eggplants -- and then scrape the deep mud off our shoes and hop back on again. Afterwards Jesse showed us the horses, the giant cold room (like a fridge, only six times the size of our rink house) and the apparatus that cleans the vegetables before market. Jessie's sister Amber Snively, who works with them to harvest, and her mother Teresa Snively, had helped to make an ample, delicious barbecue (with Jessie's cabbage rolls as a side), and we (nine of us from the park) felt like we had ended up at the best party. (For information about visits to the farms that supply food to our market, including pick-your-own visits, talk to the farmers at the market -- some even have accomodation for people willing to help pick, in return for food or wages.)

This Thursday the market will be crowded with produce from peak season. Because of the cool weather, the corn may not be ready yet, but onions are huge, the second pea crop is ready, John Ferrari will be there with lots of blueberries, our park's baker/chef Jesse Archibald will have jars of his excellent pear chutney, to go along with the park bread, and:

From Greenfields:

"Produce is pouring in from the fields ! This week everything at our stand will be from our farm. Watermelons are finally ready, Tomatoes have started, we have an abundance of XL green Bell Peppers, the first few Eggplants are here, so are our famous Pie Pumpkins which not only make great pies but are perfect for soup.

Sweet Dumpling and Buttercup Squashes are also ready. Celeriac (aka Celery Root) is available with green tops this week. Plenty of Zucchini of all types, colors and sizes, choose any three for $ 1.00. Savoy Cabbage is at its best ($ 1.50) and a few red and green Cabbages ($ 1.00) are still available. Lots of Basil, Dill and Parsley. Sunflowers off all types line the road side of our farm these days and you can pick a dozen for only $5.00 or buy them by the stem ($ 1.00). Still lots of beans (yellow, green and flat). If you haven't tried our fresh bunched red oval Mediterranean Onions yet, you may want to take along a bunch. Spanish Onions are also available fresh by the bunch. The big splash this week is our famous purple Cauliflower, guaranteed to sell out quickly."

See you at the market!

P.s. our park is still on a very tight budget but out of debt. A sensational performance by all concerned (i.e., many) --read all about it in the September newsletter

P.p.s. Market manager Anne Freeman says that a busker named "Mad Dog" will be playing at the market this week.